She stares at me, desperate to say more, but she keeps it locked down.
“Just think, maybe tonight will be the night you’ll get to experience being more than Cole Hansley’s little spoon,” she deadpans before pushing the door open. “Come on, we don’t want to miss warmups. You need to see those hips in action again before you commit.”
“Casey, my dad is coming tonight. Please behave.”
“Behave in front of the man who gave you full permission to bang that man into next week in his own house?”
“It wasn’t quite like that.”
Casey throws her arm around my shoulder. “It should have been, girl. It should have been.”
We both grab a drink before we find our seats.
“You look nervous,” Casey points out as we wait for the guys to take to the ice.
“I didn’t think I’d feel like this about someone else again. I thought he’d broken me.”
Casey shakes her head. “Not a chance. You’re so much stronger than that. You just needed some time to heal.”
“Some days I think I have. Others…I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ll ever be the same girl I used to be.”
“Maybe you’re not supposed to be? What if, after all this, you’re a better version of yourself?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I am,” she says confidently as shadows move down the players’ tunnel.
My heart jumps, and my stomach flutters with nervous excitement.
There are a few other wives and girlfriends waiting to see their guys. Some of them have kids with them, and I can’t help but smile as one woman holds her baby up before pointing toward his daddy as he emerges, ready to warm up.
“You’re imagining it, aren’t you?”
“Casey,” I sigh.
“It’s okay to dream again,” Casey says softly. “None of us will judge you for thinking about what the future could possibly hold.”
“But what if it doesn’t? What if I end up cast aside again?”
“And what if you don’t?”
As she asks that question, Cole bursts onto the ice, chasing Fletch and Linc around the edge with a wide smile.
The moment he turns toward where we’re sitting, he looks up, and I swear the world stops spinning.
His eyes hold mine, and the air crackles loudly between us. It’s been the same for days, but we’ve both been skirting around it, pretending it’s not there. It’s been torturous. I went home to sleep last night, hoping that being away from him would help, but the instant I stepped into my bedroom, he was all I could see. And when I slipped into bed, his scent surrounded me. It was worse than knowing he was only on the other side of the hallway.
It confirmed one thing for me: I’m screwed. Utterly freaking screwed.
I can fight it, as much as I might want to; I can try to insist on doing the right thing, but I’m pretty sure we’re just putting off the inevitable.
I give him a wave and immediately regret the pathetic move. But the second he sees it, his face lights up, and he lifts his gloved hand to wave back.His eyes drop to the massive jersey I’m wearing and a smirk appears on his lips.
“Oh my god,” Casey giggles next to me. “He’s so gone for you.”
Hope blooms within me. I want her to be right so badly.
After a few seconds, Cole drags his gaze away from me and sets about warming up. But I can’t say that the desire simmering through me lessens. Watching him out there is insane. And it only gets worse when he drops to all fours and starts…well…thrusting.
